Wednesday, December 14, 2011

My Shiny Brite Encylopedia

** PRE-WARNING** There are LOTS of pictures for this post, may take awhile to load, especially if you're a poor soul that has dial-up internet still.

Okay, I've been a little under the weather as of late. So this post has taken me awhile to compose. Hopefully I can add to it, as I have recently purchased another Christmas tree for my house. Couldn't pass up the 5-8' real pine trees they had on sale at the hardware store for $9.99.

Please read Barbara's original post where she asks me to respond to the question, "My question is, how many different Shiny Brites have you come across? I wonder how many different ones were made; not just colors but designs too."

Disclaimer: I am by NO MEANS an expert on the matter, but I consider myself to be a "vintage Christmas ornament hoarder." That clearly means terribly knowledgeable in my book! Truth be told a lot of the knowledge comes from my grandma or other relatives that acually lived during the Shiny Brite hey-day. Some of the knowledge comes from Vintage Ornament Collector books. Some of my knowledge comes from my own trial and error. I do believe that, as with anything else, knowledge comes with time.

A Note of Interest: Some of the caps to these ornaments are not original. When dealing with these fragile ornaments, a lot were broken, caps were saved and switched. This is especially true of war era (see through) ornaments. They usually (to my knowledge) came with a paper cap. I only have one good paper cap and I do not use it. I have either put new caps on, or I bought them with the newer caps. Also, some Shiny Brites may say only "MADE IN USA" on the cap. Some may actually say "SHINY BRITE." There were other companies that used the "MADE IN USA" brand on their cap. For all of these reasons, I would NOT use the cap as an identifier for a Shiny Brite. Some folks (especially those selling on online) like to call an ornament a Shiny Brite, just because it came with that cap, or it has that a "scene" or "stencil on it.

There are many more ornaments than I could ever photograph and show you. I have tried to capture as much of my collection as possible. If you ever want to know if an ornament is ACTUALLY a Shiny Brite. Just send me an email [melissasantiques AT gmail DOT com].

Stripes!
There are so many color combos,
some with mica,
some without,
some handpainted,
some not.

More stripes & the toy scene.

Toy scene, side 1.

Toy scene, side 2.

Some more stripes & see through.
See through was classified to be WWII era,
as silver was used for the war effort
and not for Shiny Brites.

Example of war era.

Scene ornaments:
They came in many colors:
red, gold, blue, green, purple, pink, silver.
Some even came in color combos.
They came in many sizes:
from a little over 1" in diameter
to a little over 4" in diameter.

Silent night, holy night scene.

Peace on Earth scene.

Silent Night scene.

Example of how some scenes ornament can come
in different color combos.

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More scenes...

City scene

Santa & sleigh scene

Deer in forest scene.

The town scene... example of different color combos.

Many Merry Christmas scenes!

Merry Christmas scenes.

Merry Christmas scenes.

One of the shapes that Shiny Brite Made.
Many color combos.
Some handpainted, Some not.
Some with mica, some not.
Some see through (war era

A Merry Christmas scene & many 3 wisemen scenes.

My favorite ornament! Side 1.

My favorite ornament! Side 2.

My favorite ornament! Side 3.

3 wisemen scene.

Example of more color combos.

Hand painted scenes.
Come from the same era as the
ornaments with hand painted stripes.

War era examples.

More scenes... Merry Christmas, Carolers, etc...

what is commonly referred to as the "UFO" shape.
Made in many color combos.
Some have mica.
Have not come across a see through one to date.
Ornament in top row, 3rd from left NOT a Shiny Brite.

War era.
Some in rough shape.

MORE stripes.

Nursery rhyme & some handpainted scenes.
There are more nursery rhyme scenes than I have shown.
I have seen several more, just do not own them.

Loved to see your collection! Brought back my childhood in the 1950's. Could send you picture of my tree with Shiny-Brite decor. Unfortunately the ones I had as a child were accidentally taken to dump before a move. :( ....Rose....Rose